WHEN GOD HEALS...

It's a mystery why God heals some and not others, but the fact of the matter is 100% of us WILL die, so it goes without saying that He doesn't always choose to heal us...BUT...sometimes He does.

My Experience...

I was in my early twenties and still living at home when I became violently ill in the middle of the night. Extreme nausea and a raging fever awakened me and I quickly leaped out of bed and made for the bathroom. Halfway there, I fell into a dead faint. My dad heard me hit the floor and came running. Helping me up, he and my mom both guided me toward the bathroom, but before reaching the door, I fainted again with no warning. In the bathroom I spilled my stomach contents (no nice way of putting it, sorry), and then because my bedroom seemed a million miles away, my folks told me to lie in their bed and Dad would go to my room. In their room, though, I collapsed into another dead heap before making it to the bed, this time ramming my body against a cabinet and scraping up my elbow when I hit the hard tile. Awaking on the floor, I recall mumbling, "What's wrong with me?" I was so sick, and I've never experienced anything like it since.

I lay in the bed next to my mother trembling and shaken, my body so hot with fever I could hardly think straight, my temples reeling with pounding pain, and my stomach roiling with sickness. I couldn't get comfortable, as I tossed and turned. After a few minutes, I attempted to settle my whirling stomach by lying on my back and staring at the ceiling. That's when it happened. A sensation came over me difficult to explain, but it began at the top of my head and moved slowly down my body - like a warm, comforting wave on the seashore - ending at the soles of my feet. Beads of perspiration popped out on my skin, my fever breaking that very instant, and I immediately noted how my head had ceased hurting and my stomach had calmed. Hardly knowing what to think, I threw the covers off my sweaty body and turned to look at my Godly mother. "Did you - by some chance - just pray for me?" I whispered.

She looked at me as well, her countenance but a shadow in the moonlight. "Yes, I asked God to heal you of this mysterious illness."

I'm now 64, and while I've sensed God's wonderfully sweet presence on many occasions since, that particular experience stands out above the rest. In times of doubt and worry I've been able to look back, reflect, and say, "God is REAL, God is RELIABLE, God is RELATIONAL, God is REDEEMING, and I REJOICE because He REIGNS in me!"

Sometimes, all we need is a reminder of His past faithfulness to know He will see us through whatever lies ahead. Do you have a "standing stone" or memory of a time in which God proved faithful? If so, share it here. I'd love to hear your story!